http://www.flashandmath.com/ News from www.flashandmath.com -- a large and growing collection of open source, free ActionScript 3 tutorials for Flash CS3. en-us Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EST Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EST barbara@flashandmath.com barbara@flashandmath.com http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/fourparticles/ Four stunning 3D particle experiments by Dan Gries at flashandmath.com. A sphere separates into several spheres based on the particles color; particles revolve and tend to a gravity center; particles transition throughout a cube, and more. You can rotate and manipulate the particles in 3D. Dan's previous particle post was a hit. Don't miss this one! Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/fourparticles/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/sphere/ In this new flashandmath.com tutorial, we deal with the important subject of texture mapping in AS3. We use custom AS3 classes to paste a bitmap image around a sphere and to create a textured sphere. Spheres that we create can be rotated in 3D with the mouse. We give two examples: a wood-textured sphere and a sphere with a beautiful image pasted over it. The examples are easily customizable. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/sphere/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/p10cube/ A FP10 experiment at flashandmath.com. We construct an open-sided, interactive cube whose sides are bitmaps. The user can rotate the cube in 3D and change perpective. Sides respond to clicks. Whenever possible, we use simple built-in 3D methods available in Player 10. We use the new AS3 matrix3D class for depths-sorting only. FP10 Beta 1 and FP10 Beta 2 versions are provided. Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/p10cube/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/movieclips/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. The tutorial illustrates various ways of controlling at runtime MovieClips created at design time. We start by placing code on a MovieClip's timeline and end by linking MovieClips to custom AS3 classes. We use bubbling liquid and the Cereal Box Problem as examples. Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/movieclips/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/listeners/ We present the Lights Out Game in which the number of cells is randomly generated at runtime with each new game. Thus, the click listeners attached to each square cell have to be created on the fly. The listeners are similar but different for each square. Don't miss this interesting tutorial at flashandmath.com written by James Hamblin. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/listeners/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/morequizzes/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We show a simple way to create quizzes that use CheckBox or ComboBox interfaces. Questions and answers are pulled at runtime from an external XML file. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/morequizzes/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/t1player10/ In this new tutorial at flashandmath.com, we show how to use a few simple 3D features of Player 10, rotationX, rotationY, fieldOfView, to perform free rotations of bitmaps in 3D with perspective and texture mapping. Amazing. And all of these without even using the powerful drawTriangles method or Matrix3D class. We discuss the 3D coordinate system in Player 10 and the Z coordinate versus depth. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/t1player10/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/rolls/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We present two custom AS3 classes: BitmapRoll and BitmapCylinder. The former takes a bitmap image and coils it into a 3D coil that can be rotated by the user. The latter, wraps a bitmap around a cylinder. Both the coil and the cylinder respond to clicks. The kind of result that will not become easier in Flash Player 10 despite its native 3D capabilities. Tue, 27 May 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/rolls/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/widgets/ A tutorial at flashandmath.com by Bri Lance that shows how to create useful AS3 widgets. The widgets flip in 3D. One side of a widget contains user controls that control the other side. The effect is accomplished by taking a 'snapshot' of a Sprite via methods of the AS3 BitmapData class. Such snapshots are combined with 3D rotation techniques. Mon, 19 May 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/widgets/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/gummy/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We show our custom AS3 BitmapTransformer class in action. In one example we have a bitmap whose vertices can be dragged in an arbitrary way and the image is distorted accordingly in all sorts of contorsions. In the second example, we throw in a dash of tween, and create 'an elastic' image. Great visual effects! Mon, 12 May 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/gummy/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/tricks/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We explore less common ways of using the AS3 Tween class. The class is remarkably flexible. Instead of tweening properties directly related to motion or appearance, we tween a property of an auxiliary object. We show how to use the technique to create tweened nonlinear motion, tweened text effects, and a 'balloon motion' effect. We also illustrate the built-in AS3 easing functions. Tue, 06 May 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/tricks/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/particles3d/ Don't miss this stunning visual effect at flashandmath.com, created by Dan Gries. A revolving image dissolves into a changing, exploding particle cloud that can be rotated with the mouse before the thousands of particles come together again. Download ActionScript 3 code. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/particles3d/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/radiobuttonquiz/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. Learn how to create a simple quiz supplied with content from an external XML data file. This particular quiz structure uses only RadioButton components, but the ideas are adaptable to other interfaces. Like all of our basic and intermediate level tutorials, this one, too, contains detailed, step-by-step explanations. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/intermediate/radiobuttonquiz/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/tween3d/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We use the AS3 Tween class and the AS3 collection of easing functions to create interesting rotation effects for 3D objects, in our example, a hexagonal cylinder drawn at runtime. The Tween class can tween any numerical property of any object! And it has many events to play with. Great possibilities. Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/tween3d/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/art/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. Create your own gallery of visually stunning interactive images made up of parametric curves. We provide a sample gallery and everything you need to experiment on your own and build your own collection. Don't miss this one! Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/art/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/sliders/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We present custom ActionScript 3 classes HorizontalSlider and VerticalSlider. The classes provide a light-weight alternative to the built-in Flash CS3 slider component. You can use as many of our sliders as you want in one application without increasing the swf size. As an example of usage, we give an applet in which color tints are applied to a photo. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/sliders/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/transitions/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We discuss and present examples of how to use a very useful yet somewhat underdocumented AS3 class: the TransitionManager. The class allows for creating many cool transition effects between MovieClips, including Wipe, Blinds, PixelDissolve, Photo, Zoom and others. We show examples of each and demonstrate in action the events 'allTransitionsInDone' and 'allTransitionsOutDone' that are discussed in LiveDocs and seem to work well. We give several simple examples, and then build an xml-driven slide show that uses transitions. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/transitions/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/menu3d/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We construct a vibrant gallery of flowers on a cube. We provide custom AS3 classes: BitmapTransformer, CubeMenu, and ImageLoader. These classes make it easy to customize and to create 3D menus, galleries and other applications that require image loading and distortion. Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/menu3d/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/spintake2/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. A custom ActionScript 3 class ImageLoader that loads concurrently at runtime any collection of images from external files. Extending the EventDispatcher class and creating custom events. Spinning bitmaps in 3D with distortion for perspective. Be sure to check it out! Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/spintake2/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/cardtake1/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We continue our gentle introduction to writing and using AS3 custom classes with Flash CS3. We show how to change our playing card applet so at first most and then all the code resides in custom AS3 classes. We create an image flipping AS3 class with distortion for perspective. We use the class to create a two-card applet. We also discuss the Document Class in Flash CS3. Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/cardtake1/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/card/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We create a simple, easily customizable applet in which a playing card is flipped when the user clicks on it. The flip takes place in 3D and the corresponding bitmaps are distorted for perspective. Such distortion requires some interesting techniques, including slicing of bitmaps. Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/card/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/intro/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We discuss the three ways that AS3 custom classes can be used with Flash CS3. Then we present a simple applet. In the initial version of the applet, the code is placed on the MainTimeline. We show how to move the code into a custom class. Then we use the class to construct variations on the applet. This tutorial is a part of a new category at flashandmath.com, Bridging The Gap: Writing AS3 Classes. Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/bridge/intro/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/dode/ In this new ActionScript 3 tutorial at flashandmath.com, we show how to build two 3D menus on a dodecahedron whose 12 faces are pentagons. In the first example, the faces are pentagonal bitmaps, in the second example, we have circular bitmaps placed inside pentagons. Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/dode/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/motion3d/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com in the Advanced Section. We build an applet in which the user can enter parametric equations for a curve in the xyz-space. The applet then plots the curve and displays the velocity and the acceleration vectors as the user traces the curve. We use our custom MathParser class to parse input by the user. The tutorial contains a pdf guide on using the parser and other custom classes. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/motion3d/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/tween/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com in the Basic Section. We give several examples of using the AS3 Tween class. This class allows for easy creation of interesting visual effects and animations. We build control panels that smoothly slide in and out of place, with a nice 'bounce' to them. We also show a 'spin and snap back when dragged' example. Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/tween/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/cube/ A new tutorial at flashandmath.com. We show how to rotate bitmaps in 3D in Flash CS3. We build a 3D menu on a cube whose sides are bitmaps and which can be rotated by the user. We discuss the transform.matrix property of display objects in AS3 and the Matrix class. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/cube/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/surfaces/ Don't miss this new tutorial at flashandmath.com! We build a collection of spectacular 3D surfaces that can be rotated by the user. Then we create a custom ActionScript 3 class that makes it easy to use the collection for creating a variety of visually engaging Flash apps. Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/surfaces/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/tetra/ Tutorial posted January 15, 2008 in the advanced tutorials section. We show how to build a 3D menu on a tetrahedron. When the user clicks on a face of the tetrahedron, an external jpeg loads. We discuss in detail bitmap fills, loading external files, the Loader class in ActionScript 3 as well as the BitmapData and Bitmap classes. Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/tetra/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/colors/ Tutorial posted January 3, 2008 in the basic tutorials section. We show two applets in which we use transform.colorTransform property of display objects in ActionScript 3 to change at runtime colors of movie clips created at authoring time. We discuss ColorTransform class and show how to use it. Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/colors/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/mousedraw2/ Tutorial posted December 26, 2007 in the basic tutorials section. A sequel to a previous tutorial. The two tutorials cover: the ColorPicker component, a custom mouse pointer, drawing with the mouse, and a touch of masking. Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/basic/mousedraw2/index.html http://www.flashandmath.com/ Visit our site www.flashandmath.com often. We provide a large and growing collection of ActionScript 3 tutorials for Flash CS3. For beginners and advanced Flash developers. Timeline scripting as well as AS3 custom classes. Many examples and fla files to download. Open source, free, and designed to help Flash developers everywhere. We add new tutorials frequently. This site initially designed for math and science educators is now popular among Flash developers community in general. Check it out! Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST http://www.flashandmath.com/index.html